Force India welcomes Formula One engine plan

Force India, the Formula One team, has welcomed Bernie Ecclestone's plan to introduce a standard engine for all cars in a move designed to make the sport more cost-efficient.

Ian Phillips, the team's director of business affairs, says the plan will help redress the balance in the sport. Under a Formula One “survival" plan being drawn up by Ecclestone, the sport’s commercial rights holder, and Max Mosley, the president of the FIA, the engines would each be designed to last for half the season and would potentially reduce the hugely expensive cost of powering the race cars by up to 90 per cent within two years.

The world governing body will meet all the members of the Formula One Teams' Association after the Chinese Grand Prix on October 19 to discuss ways of reducing costs.

"A redressing of the balance has been overdue for some time," Phillips said. "Probably for five years we have been overspending and it is time to pull back. The credit crunch has brought it to a head.

"I work for an independent team. It has had four owners in four years and each one of those has not been able to fulfill their desires financially in Formula One and have got out.

"But I think things have pretty much balanced out now."